Driving frugal innovation in SMEs: how sustainable leadership, knowledge sources and information credibility make a difference

This study investigates the driving factors behind frugal innovation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It specifically examines sustainable leadership as an independent variable, considering its impact on frugal innovation, with sources of knowledge mediating this relationship and information credibility moderating the effects. Employing a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, data were gathered from 325 employees of SMEs in Pakistan. This methodology was chosen for its ability to handle complex relationships between multiple variables simultaneously, offering robust insights into the interplay among sustainable leadership, sources of knowledge, information credibility, and frugal innovation. The results reveal significant associations between sustainable leadership, sources of knowledge, information credibility, and frugal innovation. Sustainable leadership demonstrates a substantial influence on both sources of knowledge and frugal innovation. Furthermore, sources of knowledge play a vital role in mediating the relationship between sustainable leadership and frugal innovation. Information credibility emerges as a significant moderator, affecting the pathways between sustainable leadership, sources of knowledge, and frugal innovation. The findings underscore the importance of sustainable leadership and credible information sources in driving frugal innovation within SMEs. They highlight the intricate interdependencies among these variables and emphasize the pivotal role of information credibility in shaping these dynamics. These results carry significant implications for SMEs in Pakistan, shedding light on the mechanisms through which sustainable leadership and reliable knowledge sources can stimulate frugal innovation in emerging economies.

New Regional Dynamic Cancer Model across the European Union

BACKGROUND

Can increasing levels of economic wealth significantly influence changes in cancer incidence and mortality rates?

METHODS

We investigated this issue by means of regression analyses based on the study of incidence and mortality indicators for lip, oral cavity, and pharyngeal; colon; pancreatic; lung; leukaemia; brain and central nervous system cancers in correlation with the levels of economic welfare and financial allocations to health at the level of the European Union member states, with the exception of Luxembourg and Cyprus for which there are no official statistical data reported.

RESULTS

The results of the study showed that there were significant disparities both regionally and by gender, requiring corrective public policy measures that were formulated in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

The conclusions highlight the main findings of the study in terms of the evolution of the disease, present the significant aspects that characterise the evolution of each type of cancer during the period analysed (1993-2021), and highlight the novelty and limitations of the study and future directions of research. As a result, increasing economic welfare is a potential factor in halting the effects of cancer incidence and mortality at the population level, while the financial allocations to health of EU member countries' budgets are a drawback due to large regional disparities.

Regional Regression Correlation Model of Microplastic Water Pollution Control Using Circular Economy Tools

Water pollution caused by microplastics represents an important challenge for the environment and people's health. The weak international regulations and standards in this domain support increased water pollution with microplastics. The literature is unsuccessful in establishing a common approach regarding this subject. The main objective of this research is to develop a new approach to necessary policies and ways of action to decrease water pollution caused by microplastics. In this context, we quantified the impact of European water pollution caused by microplastics in the circular economy. The main research methods used in the paper are meta-analysis, statistical analysis and an econometric approach. A new econometric model is developed in order to assist the decision makers in increasing efficiency of public policies regarding water pollution elimination. The main result of this study relies on combining, in an integrated way, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) data on microplastic water pollution and identifying relevant policies to combat this type of pollution.

New Approach to Modelling the Impact of Heavy Metals on the European Union's Water Resources

The present research aims to address the highly topical issue of heavy metal water pollution from an integrated European perspective, i.e., to quantify through modelling a general model of water pollution reduction in the EU. The objectives of the study are mainly aimed at identifying effective solutions to reduce heavy metal water pollution and providing supranational decision-makers with public policy directions in the field. The research methods consist of the foundation of working hypotheses based on the study of the literature, the consolidation of official statistical databases in the field, econometric modelling and the conceptualisation of a general model and its testing and validation by statistical methods. The results of the analysis consist of the following marginal contributions: the identification of a general model for combating heavy metal pollution; the calculation of the degree of contribution of regional policies to the general model; and the identification of effective solutions to improve the combating of heavy metal water pollution in Europe. The main conclusion of the analysis shows that significant progress has been achieved at the EU level in the field of combating heavy metal water pollution. However, the level of disparity and poor policy coordination are real vulnerabilities for the EU.

Educational performance between the human resource's theoretical paradigm and the practical mentality. Analysis at the European level

The issue of performance in education is always topical because it plays an important role in creating the most valuable resource: labor. It has been treated both from a scientific and practical point of view through numerous strategies and optimization techniques, being integrated with the strategies for educational development as a training system at a global level. This research aimed to identify the need for performance and assessed the theoretical and practical dimensions of the European gap in performance in education, given the impact of the global crisis. The analysis was based on a structured questionnaire that is part of a pilot research in which 130 teachers and school managers from Romania and 97 teachers and school managers from five other European countries participated. The results of the study will allow the identification of the human resource's theoretical paradigm and the practical mentality in the education system to improve performance, which the authors propose to use to identify concrete applicable measures in the short term.

A new approach to econometric modeling in digitized consumer behavior

Given how identifying motivational factors of online purchasing is critical to the success of online retailers, research on the antecedents of online customer experience (cognitive and affective experiential states) has attracted widespread attention. In this study, we conducted an extensive survey to identify major behavioral changes in the online buyer, and based on the age of the respondents we synthesized the findings into an econometric model to explain the impact of cultural, social, personal, and psychological traits on online purchasing. Our survey identified a myriad of motivational factors that influence online buyers' psychological perceptions and the impact of those factors has been reported. The proposed econometric model would help online retailers to better understand the motivational factors behind online customers' purchasing decisions. It also serves to inform the academic community of recent trends in this stream of research and shed light on future research.

To a Green Economy across the European Union

"Is the green economy a real solution to the present economic development?" represents the main question of the present research. The paper deals with assessing the impact of innovation on the green economy and quality of life through policies promoted at the European Union (EU) level. The objectives of the paper are to assess the impact level of the policy implementation across the Member States through the research and development (R&D) process and to identify models for the development of the green economy in Europe. The applied methods are empirical and analytical based on the study of literature, econometric modeling, pivoting econometric models, trend synthesis, prioritization, and staging of policy experimentation in the Member States through data processing and statistical programs. The results consist in obtaining development models for the green economy at the EU and national levels. In conclusion, the paper contributes to the early identification of vulnerabilities that may affect the development of European strategic projects in relation to events and security breaches occurring at the EU level at any given time.

Approaches related to the effects of Covid-19 pandemics on financing of the healthcare system in Romania

Background

The healthcare financial system faced a significant disturbance of the budget balance after the outbreak of the pandemic, amid government measures to combat the disease. These measures have led to shifts in funding weights within the income and expenditure budget structure, with a focus on prevention and treatment of patients infected with SARS-COV 2. The purpose of this research is to analyse the financial balance of the healthcare system and the related modelling to support decision-makers in adopting and implementing appropriate financing measures for the pandemic.

Methods

The working hypotheses of this study were tested using an econometric linear regression model based on the financing budgetary function, which matches funding to the specific need for each expenditure heading. SPSS 25 statistical software was used to define the model and to test the homogeneity of the data and their statistical relevance to the phenomenon under analysis.

Results

The proposed model showed that there is a significant correlation of the dependent variable, Dynamics of budget revenues in the healthcare sector (TIM), with the regressors. We believe that a problem-solving rebalancing of allocations could help to eliminate the synergy in health. This redistribution should take into account the impact that economic and budgetary factors have on healthcare factors and vice versa, so that at some point after successive adjustments the minimum distance between forecast and realisation or between need and financing of need can be reached. The used data were analysed dynamically to assess changes in trend as absolute data do not allow the construction of an overall picture. Relative data captures changes in financing from year to year and can be linked to events such as pandemics, financial crises or inflation.

Conclusions

In relation to the objectives of the research, it emerges that, under the impact of pandemic stress, measures to improve healthcare management, increase performance and streamline financial allocation are vulnerable and cannot counteract the effects that the pandemic has on the healthcare of the population as reflected in the morbidity and mortality indicators collected during the pandemic. In this regard, it is necessary a rethinking of the strategic healthcare management, a better planning of the procurement of medicines and healthcare supplies, a rethinking of the partnerships with the European Commission and other global entities. This approach can effectively improve the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare status of the population, a rebalancing of the demand-supply balance in healthcare and a maintenance of the strategic programmes, according to the objectives assumed in the planning, given that these programmes protect categories of people already medically affected.

Was the European oil industry prepared for the current global crisis?

The paper focuses on the impact of the complex global crisis on the European oil industry. The main objective of the research is to define, implement and validate a model able to quantify the developments and risks faced by this industry at European level. In order to achieve this objective, dynamic statistical analysis takes into account specific indicators of production, demand and actual consumption over a significant period of time. Special attention is given to the impact of the pandemic on this industry. The analysis takes into consideration the latest official statistical data and is connected to the most important global trends in the oil industry. The main result of this scientific approach is the building of a pertinent instrument/model able to assist the decision-makers in calibrating the European oil industry to global market requirements and developments. By using this tool, key elements of energy policy can be identified that can bring valuable clarifications in the context of the industry's new orientations towards green energy and the reduction of polluting fuels.

Approaches to Health Efficiency across the European Space through the Lens of the Health Budget Effort

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, financial resources allocated to the health system have been refocused according to priority 0: fighting the pandemic. The main objective of this research is to identify the vulnerabilities affecting the health budget effort in the EU and in the Member States during the health crisis period. The analysis takes into account relevant statistical indicators both in terms of financial allocation to health and expenditure on health protection of the population in the Member States, with the effect being tracked even during the pandemic period. The novelty of the study is the identification of viable directions of intervention based on the structural determination of expenditures related to measures to combat the pandemic and making proposals for changes in public policies based on the determination of the effectiveness of budget allocations in health in relation to the proposed purpose. The main outcome of the study is the identification of the vulnerabilities and the projection of measures to mitigate them in the medium and long term.

Global Challenges vs. the Need for Regional Performance Models under the Present Pandemic Crisis

The present study uses the analysis of the EU’s regional performance structure based on clusters to test the versatility of the regional administrative capacity in relation to three disruptive global phenomena: the economic crisis, the coronavirus epidemic and the phenomenon of refugee migration to Europe. We defined a regional performance model based on maintaining sustainability indicators in the 240 EU regions. The objectives of the study are aimed primarily at a structured assessment of regional administrative capacity in the initial version, based on statistical indicators, and in the current version, after the outbreak of the pandemic, based on quantifying the impact of the disturbing factors. Secondly, the objectives of the study are to evaluate the reaction of the administrative units according to their ability to respond to the economic problems in the region, in the sense of improving the performance of the regional economies. The methods used in this paper will be empirical (the study of the specialized literature), analytical and will contain econometric modelling and statistical processing of the data. The results of the study will allow the identification of the necessary traits to train a leader in regional performance, traits that will be useful to European decision makers in adjusting the EU regional policy. Moreover, the need to redefine the EU in terms of performance will be substantiated once again. The study is current and is based on the latest Eurostat information, pertinent tables and diagrams.

Growth and integration's impact under a new dynamic approach

The aim of the research is to define a new model able to quantify the viability of one or more economies' growth and integration within a regional entity. The final goal of such approach is to support the European adhering process in the context of the present pandemic. Our approach is a dynamic one and is focused on the Balkan region as main supplier of candidate countries. The methods used in the analysis are represented by the meta-analysis of the literature in the field, comparison of statistical databases, dedicated software and application of the degree of concentration theory (author Zlati Monica-Laura). Using this theory, a new statistical model is built. Its results will generate significant conclusions regarding the impact and performance of the two economies' integration.

Integrated approach of the entrepreneurial behaviour in the tourist sector from disadvantaged mountain areas from Romania

The economic development of the tourism in disadvantaged mountain areas has the role of sustaining their development and economic growth. The premise of a successful development of tourism in these areas is given by the authenticity of resources. This paper aims to highlight the strategic perspectives/outlook of tourism in disadvantaged mountain areas through the evaluation of strategic alternatives using the concerted analysis SWOT-AHP. The aim of this study is to support communities and actors involved in the phenomenon of tourism in disadvantaged mountain areas in order to achieve positive results and as much as possible with awareness and avoidance of risks, and prevention or combating negative consequences. During the research and analysis, in accordance with the literature, the issue of entrepreneurship was treated as a dependent variable, and the phenomenon of tourism as an independent variable. The vision of tourism planning in disadvantaged mountain areas must focus on its sustainable development that contributes to increasing entrepreneurial initiatives by diversifying and ensuring the complementarity of tourism services calibrated to the needs of tourists and adapted to new social challenges. The strategic planning in the area of the tourism of disadvantaged mountain areas represents a topical challenge in the context of promoting sustainable tourism. Currently, there is a strategy at national level for developing tourism, but there is no strategy for developing tourism in disadvantaged mountain areas.